Half Lit
by Animegirl1129
Summary: After a bit too much to drink Ben and Riley have a long awaited conversation to deal with. Slash. For a challenge over at the treasure-geeks community on LJ.


Half Lit

**_For the songfic challenge over at treasuregeeks on LJ. Lyrics belong to Steven Strait. NT Characters aren't mine - as we all know by now, originals are. Not entirely sure I like how this turned out, but, hey, what can you do? Enjoy!_**

* * *

Ben, who had been single for several months (despite the attempts of numerous fans), was not expecting to spend his first Saturday night off taking care of Riley. But, just ten minutes ago, he'd gotten a phone call courtesy of a worrisome bartender. His young friend has just suffered through a break-up of his own and he is most definitely not taking it well, and could Ben please come and fetch him?

He'd arrived in time to hear Riley tell the poor bartender the tale for what was reported to him as the eighth time in four hours - and seven Coronas.

Sara, one of the girls who'd joined in on their slightly stalker-ish fan base after they'd found Cibola had wound her way into Riley's heart. Only to break it four months later when she'd learned that Riley may or may not have been interested in someone else.

"Ri, come on. You probably have alcohol poisoning by now." He prodded, trying to get the man away from his eighth beer and back to the house. Yeah, they were living together now. Abigail still had the mansion.

"Good." Was Riley's muffled reply, as he took another long sip.

But, Ben had had enough. He pulled the bottle away and tossed an appropriate number of bills toward the clearly relieved bartender. "We're going home."

"I don't want to." Riley whined, struggling against Ben, which only made him loose his already shaky balance and nearly tumble to the floor. Ben caught him, and hauled him up by his armpits.

"When you can't walk anymore, you know it's time to go home." Ben urged again, leading the man towards the door. Riley had obviously taken his red Spyder here, and after maneuvering the younger into the passenger's seat, Ben drove them back to their flat.

_If I saw you here tonight  
In half lit melancholy light  
I got you here under my skin  
And tryin' to make you laugh again_

"Riley, it'll be okay. There'll be someone else, trust me." Ben was terrible at giving advice that did not involve history. This would me more so a job for Abigail than it was for him, but she was out of town on a business meeting about someone of the artifacts from treasure number one. "It'll get better."

"No it won't." He sulked. Ben would bet that if he could walk, he'd be heading toward the case of beer in the fridge.

As it was, though, Riley was stuck wherever Ben put him, in this case, the couch. "Don't move." He warned, just in case, going to fetch some aspirin and a water bottle for his friend in hopes of getting ahead of the hangover that would be hitting in a few hours.

"I thought she actually liked me…" He said, calling out to Ben from his spot. He tried to get up, only succeeding in falling back into the cushions. "No one likes me."

Ben offered him two pills and the water, making sure he drank the whole thing. "Nonsense. I like you. Abby likes you. My parents like you."

"Wow, four people." Riley snorted in mock amazement. "Your dad shouldn't even count. He hates me. No one even knows who I am. You… you get stopped on the street every day."

It was true, unfortunately, that when they'd found the first treasure, the media had been in a frenzy over all of it and focused on him even though Riley was also credited with the find and they would not have found it without him. Treasure number two was much the same, with the whole kidnapping the president buzz going around; Ben was once again shoved into the spotlight. He was going to reply to that comment but Riley was still drunk-rambling.

"And… and you, you always get the girls. Guys try, too, it seems. Not me, though. Never me."

"You have to gotten dates out of this." Ben retorted, knowing Riley had been on at least some. He recalled a girl named Brooke just after they'd had the party after Cibola. He thought so anyway.

Riley was talking again. "No, no. You."

Ben blinked. "Okay, you've lost me. Time for bed."

But, Riley was having none of it. "You don't want me."

"What?" Ben startled at the comment, it having come out of left field. "Riley, you're totally zoinked here."

"No, I'm not." Riley tried to stand again, swaying slightly when he got to his feet. "Whoa, the rooms spinning." He laughed softly. "That's cool."

Ben watched him closely, and he knew the moment Riley did that moving had not been the best decision.

"Ben, I think I'm gonna be sick." The younger declared, trying to stagger toward a bathroom.

"Hold on, Ri." Ben said, hastily dragging the man into the room. Riley was on the ground reacquainting himself with the remnants of his dinner with Sara, Ben kneeling beside him, rubbing soothing circles on his back. Filing a bathroom cup with water, he offered it to Riley when he seemed finished. "You okay?"

"I'm exhausted." Riley said, which was what Ben had been waiting for. "Bed?"

"Yeah, come on." With a large amount of assistance from Ben, they managed to get upstairs to Riley's room. Ben helped him escape the sweat soaked t-shirt and remove his jeans before settling him into bed.

"Stay?" Riley managed, his eyes drifting closed already, as he lay in bed. "Just for a bit?"

Ben nodded, though he wasn't sure if his friend caught the movement. He fell asleep in the chair in the corner of the room.

_When I open up my eyes  
I wanna see your face  
When you come here  
Could you stay with me a while?  
And gently break me with your smile?_

When Riley woke up the next morning, with what felt like a jackhammer drilling through his skull despite Ben's supposed hangover remedy the night before, it was to a far too bright room and a surprisingly vacant one at that.

"Ben?" He called, the jackhammer increasing tenfold with the single word. He covered his eyes with his arm, which seemed to help a bit. He dared to call out again. "Ben?"

"Right here, Riley." Came the familiar voice from the direction of the doorway. "I just went to change." He also carried a glass of water and more aspirin.

Riley took both without protest, moving as little as possible. "Christ, how much did I drink? I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"Far more than you usually do." Ben replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Don't blame you though."

"Mm. I think I'll get over it. If I live through this headache." That was Riley for you, drown your sorrows, and move on.

Ben smiled, glad that Riley was back. "I'll make you some breakfast. Come down when you're ready."

Riley smiled back, nodding. "Thanks."

_You know I need you  
Like a child needs the stars  
So tell me can you hear my heart?_

"What would I do without you?" Riley asked, stepping into the kitchen of the flat in pajama pants and an old t-shirt. It smelled like pancakes - which Riley's stomach had apparently agreed to tolerate.

Ben turned, surprised to see him up and moving already. "Spontaneously combust would be my guess."

Riley seemed to be musing in thought. "I think they busted that on _Mysthbusters_. Sorry."

"You said some pretty out there things last night." Ben commented, serving his friend a plate of pancakes while he started the next batch.

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Well, there was your usual alien blabber on the ride home. And the repetitive story telling - which I'm quite used to by now but, that poor bartender was going out of his mind. Oh. And, you said something along the lines of 'you don't want me' when I was trying to get you to go to sleep." Yeah that last one was what he was so subtly trying to get at.

"I… what?" Riley paled, suddenly looking very adverse to food. He pushed his plate away and hung his head. "I… I'm sorry. I don't know what I was rambling on about."

Ben sat down across from him, breakfast forgotten. "I think you do."

Riley wouldn't meet his gaze though. Cornered by the truth, Riley was quickly going into panic mode. "What do you think it means, Ben?"

"That's why I'm asking you. And don't try to pretend as if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I've never seen you as bad as you were last night." Ben warned, but then a thought struck him. "Last night. Why did Sara break up with you?" He didn't recall that part of the tale.

"She found out that I liked someone else. I wasn't cheating on her or anything. I… I just had kind of a reallybiglikehuge crush on someone." He admitted, sighing in defeat. "She was cool with that, but not when she found out who it was on."

"What could be that bad? Ted Bundy?" Knowing as he did of Riley's sometimes otherwise inclined sexual preferences he was fairly certain that Sara was previously unaware.

The joke, even under the circumstances of their conversation, made Riley smile. For a moment. "No. She found out that I like you."

"Me?" He stared.

"Is there another 'you' in the room?" Riley retorted. "You don't have to say anything about it. You wanted to know and…"

"Why do you think I don't want you?"

Now, Riley stared. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Perhaps not… correctly. I'm sorry, did you just ask… why I think you don't want me?"

Ben nodded.

"Maybe because you've shown so much romantic interest in me in the years I've known you? That's usually a big clue, you know." Ah, Ben thought, defense mechanism-Riley. When Riley was scared or nervous, or anxious, he got pretty sarcastic. However, he had learned to use the man's sharp wit to his advantage. "You'd think you were in love with me or something."

"And if I said I was?" Well, that certainly through the young computer geek for a loop.

He stuttered a moment. "Are… are you trying to be funny? Cause if you are…"

"Not being funny." He answered. "Not being funny at all. I'm totally serious." He stood, walking around the table to pull Riley up. One hand settled on the small of Riley's back, the other on his cheek, and then Ben was kissing him.

"No way…" Riley mumbled against the others lips, his hands fisting in Ben's shirt.

_Could you hear me one more time  
And put your fingers on my spine  
And when I open up my eyes  
I wanna see your face  
When you come here  
Could u stay with me a while?  
And gently break me with your smile?_

"How long have you been hiding this?" Ben asked, still holding onto Riley.

Riley pretended to think for a moments. "How long have I known you?"

Ben gaped. "That long? While I was with Abigail?" Riley nodded, and Ben cringed. "God, I'm sorry. That must have been horrible."

"A bit, yeah." Riley replied, his classic snarkiness back in place. "But, I'm much more interested in right now. Are you… I dunno, being serious about this?"

"Yes." He nodded.

Riley pressed forward to kiss him again. "Good, cause I need you, Ben. Who would have thought a day that started out with a headache that bad would lead to this?"

Ben just grinned, not relinquishing his hold on the other. "The day had to get better, I suppose."

They stood there for a moment before Riley felt the need to point out, "Ben, ugh, your pancakes are burning."

_You know I need you  
Like a child needs the stars  
So tell me can you here my heart  
And when you come here  
Could you stay with me a while?  
And gently break me with your smile?_


End file.
